The Director-General of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Professor Mojisola Adeyeye, has defended her record at the agency, saying reforms implemented since she assumed office in 2017 helped transform its finances, regulatory capacity and international standing.
Adeyeye made the remarks during a press briefing in Lagos on Monday, where she recalled inheriting about ₦3.2 billion in outstanding liabilities and significant operational problems at NAFDAC.
She said her administration prioritised debt repayment and institutional reforms while working to restore confidence in Nigeria’s pharmaceutical and regulatory system.
According to the NAFDAC DG, the agency’s challenges extended beyond its finances. She said between 70 and 80 per cent of its laboratory equipment was not functioning when she took office, while the agency’s information and communications technology infrastructure was also inadequate.
Adeyeye said the liabilities inherited in 2017 included unpaid government taxes, outstanding payments to staff involved in Good Manufacturing Practice activities and debts owed to contractors.
The breakdown she provided included:
- About ₦1.6 billion in unpaid taxes.
- Approximately ₦700 million owed to staff over GMP-related travel.
- About ₦400 million owed to contractors.
- Other outstanding obligations that contributed to the agency’s overall liabilities.
She said one of her first financial decisions was to restrict official travel and redirect available resources towards settling the debts.
Adeyeye said NAFDAC had paid roughly ₦3.1 billion of the inherited liabilities by November 2018.
The decision, she recalled, generated resistance because debt repayment had not previously been treated as an immediate priority within the agency.
One of the most significant milestones cited by Adeyeye is NAFDAC’s improvement in regulatory maturity.
The World Health Organisation confirmed in March 2022 that Nigeria’s medicines regulatory system had reached Maturity Level 3, a classification indicating that the regulator was functioning at a level considered well-developed under the WHO Global Benchmarking Tool.
The WHO assessment examined more than 260 indicators covering critical regulatory functions, including product authorisation, laboratory testing, market surveillance and the capacity to identify adverse events.
The milestone was important because stronger regulatory institutions can improve confidence in medicines manufactured locally and support Nigeria’s participation in international pharmaceutical supply chains.
WHO subsequently described NAFDAC as part of Nigeria’s national medicines regulatory system operating at Maturity Level 3.
Adeyeye also pointed to the agency’s growing participation in international regulatory organisations as evidence of its changing profile.
NAFDAC is listed as an affiliate of the International Medical Device Regulators Forum, a global grouping focused on harmonising medical-device regulation.
Another major development came in November 2025, when the International Council for Harmonisation confirmed NAFDAC, Nigeria, as one of its new regulatory members.
The ICH said membership followed the organisation’s requirements for national regulatory authorities, including implementation of specified regulatory guidelines and participation in its technical activities.
The development gave NAFDAC a stronger presence among international regulators responsible for pharmaceutical standards and regulatory harmonisation.
Despite highlighting the agency’s progress, Adeyeye acknowledged that her tenure has faced opposition, including calls for her resignation.
She said she encountered resistance during her first term and alleged that attempts were made to undermine her administration, including through industrial action.
Adeyeye also rejected allegations that she had demanded money from contractors and challenged anyone with evidence of such conduct to come forward.
She said her decision to return to Nigeria followed decades in the United States, where she spent much of her career as a professor before taking up the NAFDAC leadership role.
Her defence of her tenure comes as NAFDAC continues to face pressure over the availability of counterfeit, falsified and substandard products in the Nigerian market.
The agency’s institutional gains have not removed the regulatory challenges confronting Nigeria’s health and consumer-protection system.
NAFDAC recently reported intensified enforcement against counterfeit and non-compliant products. The agency said 7,210 regulated products had been removed from circulation and that 64 counterfeiters had secured convictions.
The agency also said it received 225 complaints concerning suspected counterfeit products in August alone, highlighting the continuing scale of the problem.
These figures underline the gap between strengthening regulatory institutions and eliminating unsafe products from a large and complex consumer market.
For NAFDAC, maintaining public confidence will therefore depend not only on international recognition but also on consistent enforcement, functioning laboratories, effective surveillance and timely action on complaints.
Adeyeye’s account places the agency’s transformation in three broad areas:
- Financial management: Clearing inherited liabilities and reducing avoidable expenditure.
- Regulatory capacity: Achieving WHO Maturity Level 3 for medicines regulation.
- International integration: Expanding NAFDAC’s participation in major global regulatory bodies.
The international milestones are independently significant. WHO’s 2022 assessment recognised Nigeria’s medicines regulatory system as Maturity Level 3, while the ICH’s 2025 decision established NAFDAC as a member of the international harmonisation body.
However, the agency’s long-term credibility will ultimately be measured by how effectively those institutional gains translate into safer medicines, food, cosmetics and other regulated products for Nigerians.
Adeyeye’s latest comments therefore represent not only a defence of her tenure but also a broader argument that NAFDAC has undergone a substantial institutional transformation since 2017. The next test will be whether the agency can sustain those gains while responding to continuing concerns about counterfeit products, regulatory enforcement and public health.
